The Act of Forgiveness

3

So there we sat in the hard, uncomfortable chairs of the local hospital waiting room. Evelyn had stopped crying but was whimpering into my shirt in a pathetic way. Her forehead was a little warmer than it was before and i was starting to get nervous. She would cough weakly every now and then, but it sounded dry and painful.

Felix was up and arguing with the receptionist, trying to get a doctor to look at Evelyn but the receptionist wouldn't budge. I watched carefully as he slammed his hand down on the desk and leaned in closely while saying something. The receptionist nodded, slightly scared, and Felix made his way back over. The waiting room only had two other people in it. One was holding a bloody wash cloth to a cut above their eye and the other just sat, looking sickly in the corner on his own.

"Fifteen minutes max." He informed Anna and I as he sat and pouted. I rolled my eyes at his behavior but quickly got distracted again.

My phone began letting out its annoying, guitar strumming ring tone as I sighed and pulled it from my pocket.

"Hello?" I whispered, adjusting my grip on Evelyn's small body.

"Are you okay?" Mary Kate's over concerned voice asked.

"I'm at the hospital with Evelyn and my brother." I replied with no emotion, still beyond annoyed with her.

"Is she okay?" Her voice got slightly louder and I sighed, pulling the whining baby closer to me.

"No, she has a raging fever and we don't know what's wrong." I answered shortly.

"I'm coming down." She informed me and before I could reply she had hung up. I felt anger now, I didn't want her to come. All I was worried about was my daughter. I didn't want to include Mary Kate and Jasper in this.

"Everything alright?" Anna asked while stroking Evelyn's soft hair, she was finally dozing off as it was past her bed time at this point.

"Mary Kate is coming apparently." I sniffeled a little as my eyes got watery, but I had to remind myself that I had to hold it together for Evelyn right then.

"If Jasper so much as walks into her room then I will not hesitate to punch him." Felix promised as I laughed humorlessly and had Evelyn rest her head on my chest.

"Evelyn Dean?" A nurse asked from a doorway with a clipboard in hand.

I stood quickly, gathering her blankets and Felix took the baby bag as we made our way back. She took us to a room right off the waiting room, presumably to take her vitals. Evelyn was jostled awake and she looked extremely irritated, but she wasn't crying thankfully.

"Hello, you can sit with her on your lap as I take her temperature and other things." The nurse smiled and placed a thermometer in Evelyn's ear much like I had about an hour ago.

"It was 103.3." I informed her as the thermometer beeped.

"It is now 103.6. Could you place her on this scale?" She asked, her smile slowly being taken over with worry.

I set Evelyn down and the numbers on the scale ticked up then stopped at 14.8 pounds. "She's ten months am I correct?"

"Yes ma'am." I answered as she put a clip on her finger to measure her pulse and oxygen.

"Has she always been small?" The nurse asked again as she recorded stuff down on her clip board.

"Yes. She was only five pounds when she was born." I replied, my voice going shaky as I scooped her into my arms again.

"Alright, we'll get you set up in a room if you'll follow me back to the pediatric ward." I nodded and the three of us followed the nurse down a few hallways and into a jungle themed room that had large amounts of equipment. My anxiety spiked as I took in all the stuff in the room, would she need all of this?